captioning sponsored by wpbt >> tom: good evening and thanks for joining us. the nation's retailers had a relatively strong back-to-school selling season, and susie, that has investors and traders wondering how the sector will do this holiday season. >> susie: tom, the commerce department reports retail sales rose for the second straight month in august. sales were up a better-than- expected four-tenths of a percent last month, while july's sales were also revised higher. >> tom: with "back to school" in the rear view mirror, retailers are looking ahead to the holiday selling season. many stores are deciding now how many temporary workers to hire, if any. as erika miller explains, those decisions can provide some important hints about the strength of holiday sales. >> reporter: in brooklyn, under the manhattan bridge, is a gift shop called stewart/stand. it's a family-owned business-- penelope runs the store, while her brother-in-law paul is in charge of the wholesale division. though it's only september, the two are already finalizing holiday hiring decisions